Bigman

Bigman ( English big man; big-man - big man) is a term used in ethnographic literature to refer to men who enjoy great authority and influence in their communities . Bigmen are influential mainly because of their personal abilities.

The Bigmen Institute has been studied primarily in Melanesia and Southeast Asia . Studies conducted in Melanesia, especially among the Papuans of the central plateau of New Guinea , make it possible to attribute the emergence of bigmen to the stage of the late primitive community.

The transition from the early primitive to the late society was associated with the appearance of excess product and its redistribution system. Such a system in ethnographic literature received the name of a prestigious economy , since redistribution took place in the form of gifts. Gifts took place during special celebrations, to which one community invited members of others.

The more a person gave, the higher was his status both in his community and beyond. People who were striving for more and more prestige began to create systems of relations in which they donated not only what they themselves created, but also received from other people. Such systems could encompass all members of the late primitive community, and the people who stood at the center of such systems became the sole leaders of the community.

In order to gain authority in the community, the big men had to have outstanding personal qualities - physical health and strength, intelligence, the ability to convince and organize others, a good knowledge of mythology and magical techniques . Thanks to their successes in housekeeping, they became richer than others.

At the same time, the big men tried in every possible way to increase their wealth and strengthen their influence by competing with each other. They expanded their economy, attracting additional labor through polygynous marriages. Bachelors, who, as a result of the strict division of labor between the sexes, were not able to apply female types of labor, were forced to work in the bigmen's economy. In addition, the bigmen bound young people and their families with obligations, making a ransom for them. They took on the role of mediators during military clashes and in complex conflict situations. Each bigman sought to ensure that, as the Papuans Mbowamb said from the central plateau of New Guinea, "his name sounded on all sides of the world."

The status of bigmen was not inherited, although, for example, in the same Mbamba, three-quarters of the sons of “larger” and half of the sons of “smaller” Bigmen also became bigmen. However, for this, the sons had to have the necessary abilities and make considerable efforts.